


feels like home, somehow

by halfwheeze



Series: thirty ways to think with your brain [1]
Category: My Babysitter's A Vampire
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle School, Anxiety, Developing Friendships, F/F, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen or Pre-Slash, Mentioned Eating Disorder (Not of either of the main characters), Middle School, Pre-Femslash, Seventh Grade Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21687757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: When Erica meets Sarah Fox for the first time, they're in the seventh grade.She drops a water bottle.It's fine.
Relationships: Sarah Fox/Erica Jones
Series: thirty ways to think with your brain [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563388
Kudos: 21





	feels like home, somehow

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is the first of a 30-day series I'm trying out! I can't say that I'll be fantastic at it, but I'm gonna try!
> 
> Day one is first meetings, so here we go! Enjoy!

Erica actually thinks she might die when Sarah Fox sits down at her table for the first time; she knocks her bottle of water off of the table and her only saving grace is that the cap is still on. The idea of bending down in front of the entire cafeteria full of snot-nosed rats sends sickly shivers down her spine, but Sarah - whose name she does not know yet - picks it up for her, completely unworried about the boys at Whitechapel Middle School and the way that they’ve always picked on Erica for every little thing she’s ever done. The new girl sits down in front of her and passes her an apple; they’re Erica’s favorite fruit, and she’s already eaten her’s. Erica blinks, but takes it anyway. 

“I’m Sarah. Sarah Fox,” Sarah introduces herself, not offering Erica her hand like Erica had always been told was the right thing to do by her mother’s mother, quite possibly the only prim and proper person Erica had ever met. Erica shrugs in return, not taking her hand from between the pages of the first Dusk book; she’s re-reading it because the second one is coming out in less than a month. 

“Erica Jones,” Erica says, jutting her chin up. It’s how Rizzo introduces herself in Grease, and Rizzo is probably the coolest person that Erica has ever seen. Erica wants to be sharp like that, untouchable, a perfect pink lady that can still go rough and tumble with the boys without ever being made fun of. 

Sarah looks like she could be a pink lady. Maybe she could be Erica’s Marty. She looks cool like Marty. 

“Do you like Dusk?” Erica asks after a minute of quiet. The quiet doesn’t feel awkward, not like the silence of the few others who have attempted tenures at Erica’s table. It’s just comfortable, like Sarah is supposed to be there. No one has wanted to be close to Erica in a long time, so she doesn’t get her hopes up.

Well, maybe a little. 

“The vampire book? Doesn’t the second one come out soon?” Sarah asks, lifting her head to look at Erica’s book. She comes around the table, sitting at Erica’s right and dragging her tray closer to pick at her fries as she reads the back cover. 

“Yeah. You into it?” Erica asks, trying out some lingo that she’s never used before, but it’s cool. She’s finding herself early, that’s what her mom calls it when she’s sober enough to pay Erica any mind, because most people don’t try to find out what they’re interested in til high school, maybe even college. Sarah makes a face at her. It’s not a bad face, not bored like most people when Erica talks about Dusk, or like the face that David Stachowski made before he fake asked her out and laughed about it to all of his friends. It’s more an expression of contemplation, like it’s an offer that Sarah has to consider. 

“Maybe. They have a copy at the library?” she asks, raising an eyebrow. Erica blinks. No one has ever been interested before. She slides into an excited smile probably faster than is self preserving, but no one is ever  _ interested in her.  _ In her interests, that is. She just wants to talk to Sarah for the rest of the day - she doesn’t even want to go back to class, which is never the case for her. She wonders what section Sarah is sorted into for recess, and whether she can argue her way into the same area as her newfound friend. 

“You can borrow my copy! I’m rereading it. And when the second one comes out, we can both get copies and read it together! If you want,” Erica backtracks, her eyes growing wide as she tries to reign in her obvious excitement.  _ Stupid, stupid, stupid, you’ll scare her away!  _

She’s surprised when Sarah just smiles a smile much prettier than Erica is used to looking at. Sarah could be a substitute teacher for the sun. 

“I’d love that,” Sarah says, still smiling. Erica takes her bookmark out of Dusk, knowing instinctively that she’s on page 203 because of the plot point that’s going on right now, but Sarah doesn’t need to know that. She slides the book over and pulls their trays closer, encouraging Sarah to eat. She’s barely even picked at her fries, and Erica knows that there are girls here that don’t eat lunch at all. She won’t watch her new friend fade away like she has seen girls do since fifth grade or so. 

“Well, eat up, princess, because we’re gonna have so much to talk about once you read it!” Erica pushes, grinning when Sarah laughs. It’s just as pretty a laugh as Sarah has a smile, which is just as gratifying as it is unsurprising. 

“Princess?” Sarah asks, raising an eyebrow. Erica’s face heats up. She hadn’t even realised that she had called the other girl that, let alone that it was something that was so fitting. Sarah looks like a perfect princess, all of her teeth even and straight and her skin clear and and her hair silky. She’s so pretty. 

“Shut up!” Erica returns, digging into her sandwich just for the excuse to look away. She doesn’t want to look away at all. Sarah… feels like home, somehow. She’s so new, so different, but she feels like a puzzle piece that Erica has been missing her entire life. It’s dangerous to get attached so fast. Erica knows that because her dad has drilled it into her for her entire life, shooting glares at her mother across visitation rooms and court lobbies, never leaving it to the imagination why he thinks so. 

“Make me,” Sarah says, nudging her shoulder and knocking Erica out of her thoughts. No one has ever been able to do that before. 

“Shut up,” Erica says, softer, before nudging her back. She leaves her shoulder against Sarah’s, and she feels more comfortable in a cafeteria that she ever has before. Sarah Fox may be some kind of magic. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a prompt @ethanmorgcn on tumblr, and I'll get to it when I can!


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